Ruler, Rival, Exile (Of Crowns and Glory—Book 7) Read online

  By the time Irrien came to the throne room, there was already a crowd of people there. In Felldust, that would not have been permitted: the chambers of the Five Stones were for them to make decisions, and petitioners came alone, if at all.

  This was a different kind of place. It was a place of display, not just discussion.

  There was a throne waiting on the dais at the end. It was not the throne of the Empire. Irrien had ordered that taken away and replaced by the chair from his flagship, which now sat in a dark and twisted statement of the power Felldust held over this strange, foreign land.

  Irrien stalked over to the new throne, ignoring the clamor of those he passed by. He turned, savoring it for a moment or two, particularly enjoying the fact that there was one throne there, not five.

  He sat down and gestured for the first petitioners to come to him.

  “First Stone,” one said, “my company took many slaves in the assault and left them under guard, but another stole them away and plans to sell them.”

  Irrien tapped his fingers on the arm of the throne. “Challenge their leader to combat for them then. You have my permission.”

  It obviously wasn’t what the man was hoping for, but if he wasn’t strong enough to hold onto what was his, he didn’t deserve it.

  The second man to come forward was fat and dark-skinned, with the script-marked silks of the Further Isles.

  “First Stone,” he said, “my ship arrived this morning with a cargo of spices, but I find no market in which to trade.”

  “I will buy all you have,” Irrien said. He spread his hands. “My clerks will see to it. I am sure you will find my prices most generous. And if you do not like them, I am sure you will prefer them to the alternative.”

  The man hurried off, obviously caught between fear and relief. Irrien had briefly considered simply taking all he had, but that wouldn’t make for a city that continued to function.

  The third one to speak was one of his captains, who walked forward from a clutch of them with the look of a condemned man. Irrien guessed that they’d drawn straws to pass on whatever news would follow.

  “What is it?” he asked, in what he hoped was a suitably even tone. Despite it, the other man took a step back. This was bad then. “If you make me ask again, I will kill you and ask one of the others.”

  “It seems…” the warrior began. Was this man really one of those who led his warriors? What could be so frightening that it could unman a killer like this? “I’m sorry, First Stone, but it seems that the Second Stone has stage a coup back in Felldust. The messages have just arrived by bird.”

  “I see,” Irrien said. “And how bad is this ‘coup’?”

  He saw the other man swallow. “The people we left behind have mostly been killed. Your businesses have been taken. Ulren has declared himself the First Stone.”

  Irrien nodded, looking down as he drew a long knife. He sat there with his hands together around the hilt.

  “What of the other Stones? Did they speak against this thing?”

  He saw the captain look back to the others, but there was no help to be had. No one else wanted to be part of telling Irrien something he didn’t want to hear.

  “Borion did, First Stone, but Ulren killed him.”

  “Borion tried to fight Ulren?” Irrien smiled at that. “He always was a fool. Kas and Vexa had more sense, of course?”

  That got them staring at him as if he were mad, so Irrien went one better. He started to laugh. He let the sound wash out over them, then tossed his knife for the captain to catch.

  “You’ve done well, telling me this. Take this as a reward.” He looked past the man to the others. “Did you really think I would strike down a man who told me the truth? Did you think I would care about this foolishness?”

  “But…” one of the priests there said, “but Ulren has taken what is yours.”

  “He has done no more than I thought he would,” Irrien said. “He has taken a bowl of dust, set himself up as ruler of it, and declared it a victory. Meanwhile, we are in a land of plenty, here to take what we want. There are no other Stones here, because they have stayed behind to squabble. There are no dust tribes, no Bone Folk, no blood lizards to tear down what we build.”

  He stood then, putting most of his weight on his stronger arm.

  “You think that I should care about losing a land of nothing?” Irrien said. “I am the swordsman who offers a blow at his strongest armor because he knows that there is a cut to the throat on offer. I am the general who persuades his foes to charge into a swamp because they think they have his flank. And you think I should be angry?”

  He laughed again then, looking out to all those there.

  “I said it when we came to this land, and I will say it again: we are not here to raid this place. We are not here to take and go back to a land of dust. We are here to conquer!”

  That got a cheer from some of his men.

  “This city is ours now,” he said. “But there is still more to do.”

  Irrien snapped his fingers.

  “You, fetch the map forward. Hold it so all can see. Let them see what a pitiful fragment of the full Empire we have taken.”

  He gestured to the map’s vast spaces; to the clear farming ground beyond Delos, the great forests, the islands.

  “In the north, there are lands under marsh lords,” Irrien said. “Lord West ruled until recently, and his men will still be there. In the hills, there will be herdsmen and towns of stone. There are marshes here that can slow an army. There is an island here, Haylon, which held off the Empire’s own fleet.”

  Irrien paused, letting the scale of it sink in.

  “I intend to take it all,” he said. “This will become our land, its people slaves, its valuables our property. For that, we will need to be ready. I want the city secured, and an army prepared to march on the rest of this Empire.”

  “You want to take the Empire?” one of his men asked.

  “Felldust will conquer it?” another said.

  Irrien shook his head. “It will not be the Empire any longer. Nor will it be some offshoot of Felldust. The Empire of Stone will rise!”

  Irrien waited while they cheered. Let Ulren have Felldust. This was his prize.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The last time Thanos had arrived in Haylon, he’d come seeking Ceres, and he’d found himself turned away. Now, he’d found her, he had her close, and soon he would marry her, but he still didn’t know what kind of welcome he would find on the island. They were supposed to be allies, but he was the man who’d convinced Akila and the others to come to Delos.

  He was the one who’d led them to their deaths.

  “What are you worrying over?” Jeva asked, walking up beside him. The Bone Folk woman hadn’t been far away ever since they’d rescued her. It was as if she’d decided that Thanos was the only one responsible for it, and was determined to repay it. “You look the way a child looks before stripping the flesh off its first ribcage.”

  That was an image Thanos didn’t need.

  “Just that we might not get as good a welcome as we’re hoping for,” Thanos said.

  He saw her shrug.

  “If they kill us, they kill us,” she said.

  “That’s not very comforting,” Thanos pointed out, although he didn’t expect her to understand.

  “It is simply how things are,” Jeva replied. “Although if they come for us, we will fight them.”

  She said that with a certain amount of relish.

  Thanos returned his attention to the approach to Haylon. There were the relics of the Empire’s ships there, where he’d burned them, but what worried him was how few other ships there were there. Thanos saw a few fishing boats, and a couple of galleys that prowled like watchmen. They swung as the small boat grew closer.

  “It looks as though they’ve seen us,” Thanos said.

  He saw Ceres look up from where she stood by the tiller. “You sound worried. Haylon is our ally.”

>   “They turned me away last time I was here,” Thanos said. “They thought I’d betrayed them.”

  “But you didn’t,” Ceres said. He loved her confidence in him. “And we have Akila with us.”

  Akila, who was currently unconscious on the deck, without the strength to speak up. Who’d been hurt because he’d gone to try to help Thanos. Guilt flashed through Thanos at that thought, and at the thought of all the other people who’d died because of him. There had been Akila’s fleet, and Jeva’s people. There had been all the people who had died fighting him.

  There had been his brother.

  Ceres came up beside him, handing over the tiller to her father.

  “I know that look,” she said. “I’ve had it myself. You’re blaming yourself for what happened.”

  “It’s hard not to,” Thanos said.

  Ceres kissed him then. “We can regret the past, but without everything that happened, would we have met? Would we be here?”

  That was always the other side to regret. Without everything that had happened, he might never have met Ceres, or she might have been killed quietly by his family, before he could do anything about it. Put that way, even the horrors of the war almost seemed worth it. Ceres was everything he wanted. He wanted a future with her, a home, a family. He couldn’t regret anything that made that possible.

  The two galleys pulled up close to them, guiding them in toward the shore. Thanos and the others rowed their small boat up to the docks that waited there, trying to ignore the collection of warriors who stood there with spears and bows ready. It wasn’t a huge force compared to the one they had managed to raise against the Empire, but it would still be more than enough to kill them if they chose to attack.

  “I’ll go first,” Thanos said to Ceres. “They know me.”

  “Didn’t they threaten to kill you the last time you were here?” Ceres countered.

  In the end, the two of them went together, and Thanos was surprised to see Jeva hopping onto the docks alongside them. It seemed that she wasn’t planning on leaving Thanos’s side anytime soon.

  A figure stepped forward to meet them. He was a few years older than Thanos, with spiked blond hair tied into braids on one side where it fell longer. He wore leather armor and held a light crossbow leveled at Thanos’s chest.

  “You’re not supposed to be on Haylon,” he said. “Akila might have gone to aid you, but that part hasn’t changed. And if you’ve come without the rest of those who went to help… well, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a bolt through your chest.”

  Jeva stepped past Thanos, her bladed chains already whirling. “Because I will cut your head from your shoulders before you can.”

  Thanos put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right. He has every right to be angry.”

  “But that doesn’t mean he gets to kill us,” Ceres said, moving up beside Jeva. Thanos saw her look at the man leading the contingent there. “Who are you?”

  “Iakos. Akila left me running things here. Which means that if I ask the men behind me to fire…”

  “Iakos… that is enough.”

  Akila’s voice didn’t ring out as Sartes and Leyana helped him ashore, but it was still enough that the archers lowered their bows. Thanos saw Iakos’s features crease with worry at the sight of Haylon’s leader. Right then, Thanos couldn’t blame him.

  “Akila? What happened? We heard rumors, but this?”

  “I’d explain,” Akila managed, “but I don’t think I can stand much longer.” As if the words had summoned it, he fell to his knees. Thanos rushed over to him, but Akila was still looking at his deputy. “Let them in, Iakos. Felldust… is coming, and we’ll need… their help.”

  He fell forward, and Thanos managed to catch him as he did, laying Akila down gently.

  “Whatever else happens,” Thanos said, “we need a healer. Akila has given plenty. I’ll not have him dying because of me.”

  His deputy stood there for several seconds before he nodded, and each one of those seemed to stretch out into an eternity for Thanos. Finally, Iakos rushed forward.

  “You heard Akila!” he called. “Fetch a healer. Find rooms for these people. There’s a storm coming, and we need to be ready.”

  ***

  Iakos turned out to know the business of the island better than Thanos could have imagined. Possibly even better than Akila had. Akila was the one who had managed to organize a rebellion there, but Iakos was the one who had managed to keep things running in his absence.

  He led Thanos and Ceres through the city that formed the heart of the island. Thanos had been there twice now, but even so, he didn’t feel as though he truly knew it. Perhaps Iakos sensed that, or perhaps he just knew that the others had never been to the island, because, after he had healers take Akila away to work on him, he started to lead them on a tour of the city. Thanos was mostly grateful because of the time it gave him with Ceres.

  “We’ve worked on the defenses since the Empire invaded the last time,” Iakos said. “We already had supplies in the hills, but we’ve built them up, and crafted hill forts. We’ve built defenses against ships trying to land, and taken control of the city’s siege weapons.”

  As he spoke, he gestured to some of the catapults that covered the harbor.

  It sounded impressive, and Thanos had seen what those weapons could do, but even so, he knew that they would need more against the kind of strength Felldust could bring to bear.

  “You sound confident,” Thanos said.

  “Wait until you see the rest of the island,” Iakos said. “You’ll understand.”

  Thanos and Ceres followed him. The others had been found places to rest, or been given over into the hands of the healers in Akila’s case. Jeva had looked as though she didn’t want to leave Thanos’s side, but Sartes and Leyana had drawn her into a conversation about what it was like in the lands of her people.

  It meant that they walked together along the beaches of the island with Iakos as their guide. They strolled through a cove where statues had been set up in alcoves cut into the rock itself.

  “These are the heroes of the island,” Iakos said. He started to point them out, one by one. “There is Heklon the Builder, who designed the original fortifications for the island. His work meant that Haylon was independent until the Empire got traitors to open its harbor chains. There is Eukon the Mighty, who fought against the Feathered Dragon that came to our shores and plunged a spear of solid iron into its heart. That is Calinae, who wrote songs that have been lost, but were said to break men’s hearts to hear.”

  Thanos hadn’t known that the island possessed such a rich history. Ceres seemed to be just as intrigued by it as he was.

  “Why are the statues here?” she asked. “Shouldn’t they be somewhere in the middle of the city?”

  Iakos shook his head. “When the Empire came, it sought to replace them with its heroes and ordered us to remove them. This was a hiding place for years. Now, it seems right that they should stay here as a reminder of those times.”

  “I wonder what Felldust will do with the statues of the Empire,” Ceres said.

  That was something Thanos hadn’t thought about. Given all the horrors Felldust was probably perpetrating back in Delos, it was probably a small thing, yet it was significant in its way. Thanos had never considered the possibility that the Empire might be wiped away completely, as if it had never existed. A year or so before, it had seemed so invincible in its tyranny. Now, it seemed as though everything about it might pass into dust.

  He felt Ceres’s hand on his arm. “We’re still alive,” she said. “So are plenty of other people. The statues and the buildings don’t matter as much as the people.”

  “Plenty of those are gone as well,” Thanos pointed out. Those Felldust hadn’t killed were probably slaves by now, or had been forced to flee without any guarantee that others would take them in.

  “I meant for this to be a proud moment,” Iakos said. “Come, there is still more of the is
land to show you both. We’ll take horses.”

  They went back to the city, picking up small, hardy-looking horses from one of the stables at the edge of it, then heading up into the hills beyond. They were rocky and sharp-edged, but cut through by patches of green here and there to allow farmers to graze sheep and goats.

  “It’s beautiful out here,” Ceres said, “but I guess it’s hard too.”

  “It can be,” Iakos replied. “But the hills help to keep us safe. Even if someone takes the city, there are caves up here, and we know every turn. The Empire found that out. Of course, some of them took to fighting from the hills when their fleet couldn’t win.”

  Thanos felt a flash of guilt at that, because he’d been the one to send an elderly, supposedly incompetent general to the island rather than the brutal one his father had been planning. How could he have guessed that General Haven would turn out to cling to the hills here like a limpet?

  “Are there still soldiers left here from the invasion?” Thanos asked.

  “Some,” Iakos said. “They are very determined, but they do not have the ground, and we know these hills as well. General Haven continues to harass us.”

  “Maybe we can use that,” Thanos said. “I’m responsible for General Haven, but now… I guess I’m the closest thing to an emperor left. He might listen to me.”

  Beside him, Ceres nodded. “It might stop the violence.”

  Thanos was thinking of more than that, though. “Or they might help to defend Haylon.”

  He saw Iakos scoff at that. “Defend Haylon? They’ve been attacking it!”

  Thanos had an answer for that, however. “They were attacking for the Empire, and there is no Empire anymore. Felldust destroyed it. They’ll fight for me, and they’ll fight against Felldust. We just need to contact them.”

  That part was probably the hardest. They couldn’t just wander the hills looking for them.

  “They intercept our birds when they can,” Iakos said with a sigh. “If you’re certain, then I could use that to send a message. But I don’t like this. Perhaps the danger will pass?”